A new Spanish study has shown a 13 percent increase in survival for patients with early-stage but inoperable lung tumorsThe study, known as APOLLOhas been presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP)and has marked a milestone in the treatment of these tumors, consolidating a new approach that combines chemotherapy and immunotherapy in early stages of the disease.
The GECP, responsible for this breakthrough, has been key in the development of new therapeutic strategies to improve the prognosis of patients with lung cancer, especially those with the disease and without the possibility of surgery. Under the direction of Mariano Provencio, president of the GECP and principal investigator of the project, The APOLO study follows the previous line of research with the NADIM studyanother advance that laid the groundwork for chemo-immunotherapy before surgery in patients with this disease.
Provencio explained that traditional treatment for inoperable lung tumors in early stages was based on chemo-radiotherapy. However, the results of the APOLO study have shown that Adding immunotherapy to induction treatment, followed by chemo-radiotherapy and one year of maintenance with atezolizumab, significantly improves patient survival..
“In our NADIM study, the induction regimen with chemotherapy and immunotherapy provides high clinical and pathological response rates. Therefore, In this study we set out to explore the results of applying induction with chemo-immunotherapy followed by standard treatment with chemo-radiotherapy and subsequent maintenance for one year with immunotherapy with atezolizumab.“As far as we know, this is the first study conducted in stage III with this approach,” Provencio said.
Results of the study
The results presented at the WCLC are significant, as the study showed that, After one year of treatment, 68.4 percent of patients remained alive without disease, while of those who continued to have the disease, 86.8 percent were still alive one year after starting induction treatment.These data reflect significant progress compared to previous treatments.
“Compared to other trials, APOLO shows a significant benefit in progression-free survival. Looking for equivalence and comparing similar periods, APOLLO would show a 13 percent improvement in survival with the current standard“, Provencio said.
In addition, the researchers stressed that the treatment There were no significant adverse effects and no treatment-related deaths were reported.which reinforces the safety and viability of this therapeutic strategy.
One of the innovative aspects of the APOLO study was the inclusion of a biomarker known as ctDNAThis marker allowed researchers to assess treatment response more accurately and predict patient survival.
For Provencio, ctDNA has proven to be a valuable marker. Its elimination after induction treatment was a positive indicator of progression-free survival and overall survival.These findings open the door to further research to evaluate the use of ctDNA as a tool to guide treatment in patients with inoperable lung cancer.
NADIM Study
In parallel with the presentation of the APOLO study, the GECP also revealed the data of 5-year follow-up of the NADIM studywhich evaluated the benefits of chemo-immunotherapy before surgery in patients with operable lung cancerThese results, also presented at WCLC, reinforce the efficacy and safety of this approach in patients with early-stage tumors.
With the results obtained in both the APOLO and NADIM studies, it is clear that Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy offers a new horizon for patients with lung cancersignificantly improving its prognosis.
